We can all recall a good movie quote: "Show me the money!" "You’re gonna need a bigger boat." "Go ahead, make my day."

Those are just a few of my favorites. But there’s one from Alfred Hitchcock that I find particularly relevant: “To make a great film you need three things – the script, the script and the script.”

A movie script is no different from a social media strategy for your brand. Both are foundations that guide the content creation process. To borrow a quote from Jean-Luc Godard, “There is no point in having sharp images when you have fuzzy ideas.”

Without the right strategy, the problems with your posts will only get bigger as they move to computer screens, tablets and mobile devices. That’s why brands today need to develop a social media screenplay – so that the story they tell about themselves online will please the audience. Here is a process for developing a solid social media screenplay.

Evaluate Every Social Media Post Your Brand Has Ever Shared

Scrolling through every social media post your brand has ever made is a daunting yet rewarding task. Whether you are an agency, a new hire or an experienced social media manager, review past status updates to uncover some excellent predictors for what to include in your future screenplay.

Why should you do this? Three reasons: To capture the right tone and voice, to discover your most popular content, and finally, to discover the seasonal content that your brand will always be a part of (Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, the holiday season in December, "Movember," etc.).

Keep your social media screenplay organized by starting a spreadsheet with tabs for every month, as well as a “general” tab. The general tab should include popular status updates that could be shared at any time – regardless of seasonality. Each sheet should contain a date, status update, reference link to the actual post and any notes. Think of each post like a scene in a movie; your objective is to fill up the spreadsheet with updates that will bring your brand to life online.

Discover Customer Gems

Some customer comments on social media updates truly capture how people feel about a brand. Using their voice to carry the social media posts typically resonates with other customers who feel the same way.

To discover these customer “gems,” you’ll need to evaluate what people are saying about your brand online. This includes comments on your own social media updates, reviews on Yelp and Google+, and monitored conversation on platforms like Twitter. When you discover customer gems, add these quotes to your spreadsheet. Variations of these quotes can help piece together the screenplay.

Pay Attention To What The Media Says

Journalists are good with words, and words carry a screenplay. The next step in developing your social media screenplay is to find out what words are being used by the media to describe you.

Read articles and find snippets that capture the true essence of your brand’s purpose. If a line delights you, then trust that you are a valid audience and add the line to your screenplay spreadsheet.